millions of americans are going to be traveling over the next few days and we're going to by wi buying a lot of gas. republicans wanted to celebrate the fourth of july by hammering president obamover rising gas prices. it isn't working out the way they hoped. today, the national average for a gallon of gasoline is $3.33. it's the lowest price per gallon since last december. over the last three months, gas prices have fallen from a national high of $3.92 back in april. in some southern states in this country, the average cost is already below $3 a gallon. all of a sudden, what's that noise? i can't hear it. it's because the republicans are all of a sudden quiet about energy policy. you see, they were making all kinds of noise about high gas prices back in the spring. leaders of congress, the presidential candidates, and the right-wing media all over this president, saying he's the problem. putting the blame on president obama.

>> since this president has been president, the cost of gasoline has doubled. this is in part his fault. >> and they're especially feeling the impact of rising gas prices, which have doubled under president obama. >> why is nobody talking about this? i have been wondering. gas prices have been incredibly high for the last couple years. >> this gas price will take down the presidency. >> we're going to take down the president. it didn't stop there. not only were they blaming president obama for high gas prices. they said the president himself, himself, was driving up the prices on purpose. >> well, the fact is this president's policies are designed and intended to drive up energy prices. >> the obama administration wants the price of oil to go up as high as possible so americans demand alternative energy. >> this administration's policy has been to drive up the cost of energy so americans would use less of it.

>> president obama was even asked about this conspiracy during a live news conference in march. >> critics will say on capitol hill that you want gas prices to go higher because you have said before that will wean the american people off fossil fuels onto renewable fuels. how do you respond. >> just from a political perspective, do you think the president of the united states going into election wants gas prices to go up higher? is there anyone here who thinks that makes sense? >> no sense at all, but right wingers still repeated it as long as gas prices were high. if the gas bags paid any attention at all to the actual economic reports, they would have known how far off base they were. in the beginning of may, economists were reporting gas prices had peaked at $128 a barrel. the trend was already moving in the other direction, but of course, republicans continued to blame the president for having sinister motivations.

remember, the keystone pipeline, son of a gun, we can't get low prices unless we have the keystone pipeline. for weeks, i mean weeks, members of congress were hammering on this. the conservative media was all over it. said the president could lower gas prices if he would just approve the ystone pipeline. they also took the opportunity to resurrect the drill baby drill catch phrase. you know what? here we are five months later. there is no keystone pipeline. there probably will be, but it's not there now, obviously, and we didn't add any oil rigs to our record number of oil rigs in this country, and gas prices, well, they're still coming down. republicans, they don't know what to do with this reality. they don't have anything to say right now. in fact, some of them are now trying to blame president obama for gas prices being too low. >> that's the real danger point that maybe this economy is slowing down so much. people are go to pay less for gas, but they may not have jobs. >> fortunately, there was one

republican willing to tell the truth about gas prices and the presidency. to be fair, yohave to go back to 2008 when george w. bush was the president of the united states in order to find one, but here it is. >> next time you hear politicians say he or she will bring down oil prices, understand it's complete bs. if they want lower prices, cut back. sell those suvs, ride a bike when you can. if every one of us bought 10% less gasoline, prices would fall fast. >> well, happy fourth of july, republicans. next time you want to use gas prices as a political tool, make sure you listen to your friend bill o'reilly because he's always looking out for you. get your cell phones out. want to know what you think. will republicans ever stop using gas prices as a political ploy? text a for yes, text b for no, to 622639. we'll bring you the results

later in the show. i'm joined tonight by a man who has answered, commissioner of the commodity futures trading commission. we have been down this road, but i like to remind them how this all works. explain the main reason gas prices have dropped 60 cents in the last three months. what's going on? >> hey, ed. we have ample supply and not a lot of demand. and that's what's been the case. it happens to have also been the case that we had ample supply and not much demand when prices were high. and so there really is in fairness on both sides, not a lot a president can do either way on these things. but what the president has done, president obama has done, is he saw that these wild gyrations in prices needed to be controlled, and as part of dodd-frank, the big financial reform law, he insists that we impose limits on how much a speculator can

control in mark, but guess what? the banksters are stopping us, trying to stop us from implementing that rule. i don't think they're going to succeed and we're going to have the limits in place in september. >> the commodities speculation task force, does it have any impact on gas prices? this task force they're putting together? >> there's a lot that's been done, absolutely. including the task force, but where we are right now is we have passed a regulation that is ready to go into affect except we have one more little thing to do, hopefully, we're going to do it next week. as i say, the bankers are taking us to court to try to stop it from being implemented. you would think the bankers have other things going on in the economy, but they're trying to stop us from putting in these very reasonable limits, ed. it says you can't hold more than 10% of a market. and so we need those limits, we need them soon, and hopefully we'll go to get them in september. >> could we see a spike again

due to the tensions with iran in the middle east? >> you absolutely can. prices, as you noted in the opening of the program, are low, but they have gone up 13% in the last three trading days. it's the volatility that is so crazy. the highest prices we ever had for crude oil was actually in july of 2008. it wasn't this president, and i'm not blaming po president bush, certainly, but it's this volatility that consumers demand should be reasonable. you don't go on these big swings. gas prices impact families, they impact our businesses, nationwide, they impact our global competitiveness. we need to control them so we make sure they're someplace reasonable. they have developed, we call it, price discovery that's good for consumers and for our economy. >> good to have you with us. thanks so much. >>et's turn to bob shrum.

hope you have a great fourth coming up. >> thank you. >> festive time of year where we barbecue. i'll talk about that later. we're all driving to barbecues, i guess, this week, tomorrow and this weekend. did the republicans play this wrong? played the sound bites about how they were all blaming president obama. how does it play now? >> they don't care. they'll go out there, tell a lie. the president is responsible for the gas prices. when the gas prices come down, they'll switch to another lie. i think donald trump said today the explanation is that the president has some kind of secret plan with saudi arabia to lower prices until the election. he's out of his mind assuming there is a mind under his toupee, but he's symptomatic of what you have talked about earlier, of a party driven by conspiracy. the health care case is a conspiracy. john roberts was in on it. now the saudis have some secret sinister deal. at the end of the day, mitt romney isn't going to talk about gas prices right now because

there isn't much fuel in the tank for him. >> when he had the opportunity to do it, he did it on the campaign trail. >> that's because he's opportunistic. he'll take up any issue whether or not it's true. this is a guy who back in the primaries blundered in terms of his own constituency and said if we can't cut spending too fast because if we do, we hurt the economy. he had to step away from that. what i'm saying is there's no accountability here. bill o'reilly can say one thing in 2008, the exact opposite in 2012, and except on this show and a few other places, nobody is looking and saying, where is the consistency? they assume the voters have no memory. i think this is going to help the president because people are going to find that they can go out, they can travel around, they can have a summer vacation and it can be a lot more reasonable. >> speaking of gas, here is an ad by an environmental advocacy oup promoting gas mileage standards. it's a dandy. here it is. >> we're not stopping until we

need gas. >> america's proposed new fuel efficiency standards will double gas mileage, and that means half the stops for gas. half the stops for gas. half the stops for gas. >> is the dog's story really sticking to mitt romney? i was visiting with liz. she's on a 40-city tour, on her book tour, and she talked about mitt romney and the dog on top of the car and said 30 pest of people didn't know about it, but 70% of the people tell the story, they love this story. and now this ad is out there, it still has legs. no pun intended. >> it's classic water cooler conversation. who knows the 59 points of romney's economic program? i don't think he does and they don't add up, but when you hear the story about the dog strapped to the roof of the car, headed to canada, and romney didn't anticipate that would have some consequences that he would have to deal with. you hear that story, you can't wait to tell your friends.

yeah, it sticks to him, and gale collins in the "new york times," every every week she writes about it. >> have a great fourth. >> a great fourth to you. >> remember to answer tonight's question. share your thoughts on twitter at ed show. coming up, this is what global warming looks like. find out what republicans are saying. now to deny the scientist facts. we're coming right back on "the ed show." it seems like every cy has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call.

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coming up, oklahoma's senator claims mentioning climate change as a reason for this summer's intention weather is a scare tactic. eugene robinson weighs in next. joe walsh attacks his opponent for discussing her military service. tammy duckworth is here to respond tonight. later, if you're trying to avoid fireworks between you and your conservative relatives at tomorrow's barbecue, well, i have some tips on just what you can tell uncle fred.

seems like everybody has an uncle fred who screws up the health care law. you won't want to miss it. share you thoughts on twitter using the hash tag ed show. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." it's getting harder and harder for republicans to pretend global warming isn't real. the fact is we are in the grip of the hottest summer on record. here's another fact. this heat wave fueled the storm that hammered seven states this weekend. 22 people have died. more than a million families in seven states will not have power tomorrow on the fourth of july.

meteorologists from nasa and to the weather channel think sunday's storm was unusually powerful. it spawned hurricane force winds in north carolina. storms like this pop up every summer, but this one was huge. and this is why. meteorologists say the heat wave made the storm much more powerful. we broke 40,000 daily heat records so far this year. that's twice as many as last year. folks, it's getter hotter. people who deny global warming said it's getting hot every summer. colorado has never seen fires like this. 10,000 firefighters will spend july 4th beating back the flames in neent degree heat. meteorologists and climate experts say we're seeing the effects of global warming right now. but senator james enhoff said they're playing politics. he said it was only a matter of time before someone came out and

wanted for political gain to link global warming to recent events, these scare tactics have always backfired and they will this time. enhoff thinks it's two extensive to address the problem. >> you realize i was on your side of the issue when i was chairing the committee. i thought it must be true until i found out what it cost. >> it's all about the money. they're in charge of the environmental policy in the country, the only way for you to address global warming is to vote him out and the rest of the guys who are in denial. let's turn to eugene robinson. pulitzer prize winning columnist for the washington post. great to have you with us. you have done some great work about this, wrote about it today. is this what climate change looks like? >> this is absolutely what climate change looks like. welcome to the rest of our lives. this is what it's going to be like. one of the predictions of the scientists and their

predictions, by the way, across the board have been conservative today rather than outlandish. one of the predictions is not only does it get warmer but we see more extreme weather events. let me tellio, what happened here friday was an extreme weather event the likes of which washington has never seen. it has never seen this kind of storms with hurricane force winds. it was just amazing, and we're going to see more of it. we're absolutely going to see more of it. >> a new poll from the washington post shows most people don't think climate change is the top environmental problem. 29% say it's water and air pollution. have americans losfocus? that same poll shows 78% believe global warming is a serious problem. i mean, this has got to be a wakep call. but if you have legislators in denial, where do we go? >> continue the education, and unfortunately, more events like we saw and more heat records.

109 degrees in nashville the other day. 108 degrees in columbia, south carolina. more of this sort of thing is going to concentrate the divide. i hope it is sooner rather than later. inevitably, we're going to see this as important as it is seen, for example, in the rest of the world where global warming is a huge issue. >> a great point. what is the rest of the world saying about the united states? we sit here in denial. our lawmakers do. oh, by the way, what ever happened to cap and trade? >> right, what ever happened to cap and trade, which was once a republican idea, but there are a lot of rn republican ideas they can't stomach these days. it's not just the united states. china, china's emissions, green house gas emissions have gone through the roof. india is rising. brazil, russia, the industrializing countries, so it's bigger than just the united states. the united states, i think, has

to, and should play a leadership role if we get onboard, and if we lead, i think others will follow. my prediction, frankly, is that china is going to way beat us to solar energy technology. >> sure. they're taking it right from us right now when it comes to manufacturing solar panels and what not. they're undercutting us like crazy. the president obviously was handed a tough assignment when he stepped into the oval office. there was a lot on his plate. if he wins reelection, there's a lot of talk about him going down the road of immigration. what about this issue? you have 78% of american people who think global warming is a real problem. and he wins a second term, would this be the right time to do something? >> i think it absolutely would. and very frankly, there's a whole lot of pent up demands from environmentalists on this issue and on other issues. waiting for the president to

really lead on these issues. i think a second term, there's a rich opportunity here for him to leave a legacy. a president who begins the energy transformation of this economy, the world's largest economy. and really puts it on the right course, is going to go down in history as having done a great thing. >>eugene robinson, you have a great fourth. >> you, too. >> thank you. >> he's never served in the military, but tea party congressman joe walsh is attacking a double amp tee for talking about her service. next, i'll talk with lieutenant colonel tammy duckworth about walsh's unbelievable comments. and republicans are attacking chief justice john roberts. they say the supreme court's health care ruling is flawed. our panel will weigh in on the real problem. stay tuned.

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they had no idea that when they came to a sleep number store, we were going to diagnose their problems and help them sleep better. and don't miss our special financing now through july 4th only. plus enjoy the lowest prices of the season on selected bed sets once you experience it, there's no going back. wow. it's the lowest prices of the season on the amazing sleep number bed. special offer ends july 4th only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. welcome back to "the ed show." republican congressman joe walsh has never served in the united states military. never been there, never done that. yet, he is attacking someone who does. because he believes true heroes don't tong about their military service. here's what he told a town hall in illinois. >> understand something about john mccain. his political advisers day after day had to take him and almost

throw him against the wall and hit him against the head and say, senator, you have to let people know you served. finally, he talked a little bit about it, but it was very uncomfortable for him. that's what's so noble about our heroes. >> walsh apparently doesn't understand one of the major themes of john mccain's 2008 presidential campaign. john mccain served this country honorably. he ao has talked about that service in debates, in interviews. he ran political ads about it. when you serve this country, it's okay to discuss it on the campaign trail, but walsh was using that revisionist history to go after his democratic opponent tammy duckworth. duckworth has served her country for over two decades. she lost both of her legs and the use of her right arm after her helicopter was hit in iraq by an rpg. here's what walsh had to say about her. >> now, i run against a woman --

my god, that's all she talks about. our true heroes, the men and women who served us, that's the last thing in the world they talk about. that's why we are so indebted and in awe of what they have done. >> earlier, walsh released a statement that reads in part, of course, tammy duckworth is a hero. i have called hr a hero hundreds of times in the past four months. however, unlike most veterans i have had the honor to meet since me election to congress who rarely if ever talk about their service or the combat they have seen. that is darn near all of what tammy duckworth talks out. her service demands our thanks and our respects, but not our vote. joining me now is former assistant secretary of veteran affairs lieutenant colonel tammy duckworth. she's running for congress in illinois's eighth district. great to have you with us tonight. i'm somewhat astounded.

there's kind of an unwritten rule in american society. you don't criticize those who wear the uniform. apparently, congressman walsh feels it's fair game to do so. what is your reaction to the kind of verbiage he's using on the campaign trail and in town hall about your service? >> well, you know, ed, i think it's irresponsible of him. look, the real heroes from iraq in my unit were the men who carried me to safety. risking their own lives to save mine. the real heroes are walking foot patrol in afghanistan right now, and there are real heroes laying in hospital beds in v.a. hospitals and military hospitals across the nation. and really for mr. walsh to denigrate military service is very insulting because he's using it for his own political gain. our 23 million veterans have done more in one day in uniform that he's done for this country. >> what kind of message is the congressman sending to veterans with these kinds of remarks? >> he's trying to muddy the waters.

he's just trying to shift the focus away from the fact he's done nothing for the people of the district. he's irresponsible in his words and in his actions. he voted against medicare three teams and when i talk about how my wounds helped me to understand what it's like to go through a major medical crisis, it's because the people in the district are scared he's voted against medicare three times in the short time he's been in washington. >> i understand this isn't the first time the congressman has gone after your military record. is this a sign of just how desperate he is? and he really picks on you. he said that's all you talk about on the campaign trail. your response. >> well, he talks about nothing that has to do with what's going on in the district. i talked a lot about the fact we need to make sure college is affordable for our kids, right? he voted to let college loans, interest rates double just last week. he also was the only member of the illinois delegation last week to vote against the infrastructure bill that would allow us to fix the transportation infrastructure in illinois.

he's trying to shift the focus away from the fact he's done nothing in his two years in congress other than be an extremist loud mouth for the tea party and really he's not served his district at all. i'm proud of my service. i'm proud that i have lived up to my responsibilities to this nation in uniform, that i lived up to my responsibilities as a public serviceant and i hope i get a chance in november to continue to serve my nation and my district. >> is that his pattern, to be an extremist loud mouth for the tea party? >> well, i think in his own words, he told the people of the district, you're not going to get squat from me. i am in washington to be a poster child for the tea party. if you look at what he's done, he's done exactly that. he's done nothing for the people of the district. he continuously votes against medicare, he votes against social security, he votes against transportation. he won't do anything for the people of the district, yet he questions the service of the 23 million veterans in the nation. >> the group vote vets believes he should resign.

your thoughts on that? >> i think mr. walsh needs to, you know, do what his conscious tells him to do. i think the voters have an opportunity in november to decide who will be the best servant to serve their needs. it's kind of ironic this is the fourth of july week we're celebrating our nation's unless, our democracy and have a sitting congress in an irresponsible way throw this into the mix when we should be celebrating our veterans and talking about our democracy and our nation, you know, my family fought for the founding of this nation. i'm a daughter of the american revolution. my dad lies at rest in arlington. my brother, husband, and i, all three of us serves. i don't think he remembers how much others have sacrificed so he can say whatever he wants to say. >> i have to tell you, i'm at a loss as to who he's trying to appeal to here. i don't know. i don't know where this guy is coming from. he's definitely a loose cannon. we want to thank you for your

service to the country and your sacrifice. good luck to you. thanks for joining us here tonight on "the ed show." >> there's lot more coming up. stay with us. >> the chief justice of the supreme court of the united states is now run by the american media. >> republicans have turned on justice john roberts. we'll dive into the politics of the nation's highest court with the big panel next. i'll break out a fantastic backyard barbecue recipe and tips to set your head-shaking friends straight on health care during the fourth of july picnic. >> and our look back on the life of andy griffith ahead.> and our ♪ ♪

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welcome back to "the ed show." well, the supreme court has sprung a leak in republicans, uh-oh, they're drinking tainted water all of a sudden. john roberts initially voted to strike down the individual care

act mandate before deciding to up hold it. their report is based on two unanimous sources. the right wing loves the leak. they said he caved to the pressure so he wouldn't be viewed as an activist judge. it gives them a great excuse to attack roberts and blast the court's decision as flawed. >> he voted to keep it and frankly i think he should be ashamed of himself. he was going to go the other way 100%, everybody said from inside, that he was going to other way, and all of a sudden, he voted against it. >> the chief justice of the supreme court of the united states is now run by the american media. >> he went political. he went towards self promotion. i think the lids know that, and they'll be in for the next position. >> righties love the substance of this leak. the leak itself is the problem here. their blind ideology is stunning.

it puts the court in jeopardy of appellate court's function because members can openly discuss their thoughts about cases without fear of the discussions being used against them in the future. if this changes, so will the way the supreme court operates in this country. which i happen to think is dangerous. for more, let's turn to joy reed, also with us, ara, an attorney, and republican strategist susan dell purseio. you didn't think i was going to say that? >> you got it in there. >> this story leaks somewhere. if it comes from a justice on the court, what does it mean? >> it means a huge break with the way the court has run literally since its founding. professor lauren care who happens to be conservative but is concerned about this said he cannot think of a leak ever coming from the court like this. >> does it hurt the country? >> from the justice, you mean?

>> this is what we do know. law clerks on the court are fresh out of school or one year of clerking and they have their whole careers ahead of them. it would be a suicidal career act for a law clerk to leak it. the only people who would know this type of information are clerks, justices, and maybe their spouses. >> that's what they went to in 1992 with kennedy switching his position. it came out on a leak on planned parenthood. it wasn't the first time unless they can figure out it was a justice. it would be significant, but they need to thoroughly investigate it. it's as important as investigating the security leak we have in the white house. we have to follow through on this. it's too important. >> what would you do to adjust this -- let's say you have this investigation, and there he is, clarence thomas, he's the one. what happens snow? >> i'm not sure what happens, but you better make sure it was no one on the staff. if it goes to a justice, he has to be shown for what it is. it's too important. the clips you showed coming in.

you're talking about the chief justice of the supreme court. that's ridiculous, radless of power, regardless of liberal view, regardless of being conservative. you don't speak of the supreme court justice that way. >> you mentioned the name that is being floated as the potential source of the leak, clarence thomas. they have quoted "new york times" article which says that thomas had a very simpatico relationship with a reporter from cbs who broke the story. suspicion is beginning to fall on him. big problem if it is located in the office of clarence thomas. his wife ran a tea party organization whose principle mission was to overturn the affordab care act. there were calls for him recuse himself. that's what got anthony weiner noticed because he was on the floor saying he should recuse himself. >> the other thing that is so funny about this ridiculous

charge is if this is true, the theory behind the leak that basically there was a vote switch and we don't know, if that's true, that would be a good thing. that's how this institution is supposed to work. they trade papers. they trade arguments and at the end, they have a final vote. we all know what happened because typically it is in secret. if there was an airing of views that helped someone change their mind, that's how it is supposed to work. if they were just voting, it would just be congress. >> it's interesting it didn't happen beforehand. this person had the information for some time. we were praising the supreme court, saying oh, my gosh, isn't this great. no leaks whatsoever. for this to come out afterwards is so disturbing. >> it kind of looks like there might be some justices that are back stabbing one another. >> that's the other thing, it affects the relationship on the court. if other justices feel they can't trust each other to maintain the confidentiality of the agreement, that's a problem, too. there was supposedly not one

person who moved to the other side, you had two liberal justices who went the other way on the medicare provision. it appears there were people trying to look out for the good of the court. if that's what happened, it would be a good thing. >> the goes to the fact that they said the chief justice changed his position. that's the way the court would look. >> it's part of his job. >> it's not what he took the oath for. he's supposed to uphold the constitution. i have a problem if he put the image of the court ahead of his own opinion. i'm not going to fight the legal side of his decion. you're the attorney. >> but then chief justice roberts joined the court in 2005. there have been over 100 fife-4 decisions. he has moved over one time to join the liberals. anthony kennedy has done about 25 towards the liberals and 50 towards the conservatives. >> they're calling him a turn coat. >> one. the tolerance for changing your mind once.

>> can you imagine what the liberals would say if he went the other way? >> i would say that's what he was hired to do. >> and partisan rulings are what they demand even of court justices. the court here, what the right is mad about is john roberts dud not behave as a political actor. that's not his job. >> it's also? job of the justice to rise above that. >> typically, the commerce clause has been broadly interpreted by the court. it's a new thing to interpret -- they're supposed to interpret their view of the constitution. you can find nothing in the ruling that is out of step except for the fact he's limiting the commerce clause. >> we can anticipate this is going to set the ruling for monday morning quarterbacking. >> joy, ari, and susan, great it have you with us tonight. the heart and soul of one of the greatest tv shows of all time has died.

andy griffeth. stay with us.

tonight in our survey, i asked will republicans ever stop using gas prices as a political ploy. 4% of you said yes. 96% of you said no. up next, we'll take a look back on the life and legacy of entertainer andy griffith. don't forget, you can listen to my radio show on channel 127 monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m. follow me on twitter at ed show and like the ed show on facebook.

♪ the andy griffith show. >> and that's the way it sounded back in the '60s. welcome back to "the ed show." of course, that was the unforgettable open to the andy griffith show from the 1960s. many of us grew up on it.

andy griffith passed away this morning at his home on roanoke island, north carolina. griffith began his entertainment career with an traveling act and was nominated for a tony award before he was tapped to be the center of the andy griffith show which ran for eight years and was always in the top ten. >> of riviera rose bettals and the passion of the mediterranean moon and a rugged he-man scent. caution, users should wear gloves. >> the show had a half a dozen memorable characters like barney fife, the deputy. he wanted to arrest everybody. gomer pile, let's not forget gooper, his brother. floyd the barber, and barney always wanted to arrest him. and then of course, otis the drunk who always checked himself into jail. aunt bee and opie had memorable conversations, and opie was

played by ron howard. the film director remembered griffith today. >> he created an environment on the set that was very creative, very playful. like all great lessons, it was observed. >> griffith had another great run at the lawyer "matlock." but before his tv fame, he landed a tv role ahead of its time. he played a drunk who became a media sensation. >> i'm not just an entertainer, i'm an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force. >> i'm just a country boy. but the president tries to stop me, i'll flood the white house. >> he champions democrat causes and he probably could have h a career in politics. in fact, a 1989 poll showed him

leading incumbent senator from north carolina, jesse helms, 48% to 52%. he received the president medal of freedom from george w. bush. he was 86 years old. [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar for every dollar

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to use on fourth of july, that would be tomorrow. number one is the cherry cola ribs. first of all, the cherry cola ribs are absolutely outstanding. number two, how to talk to your conservative brother-in-law once he comes over and screws up the whole cook out and talks about how bad obamacare is. it seems like there's always an uncle fred in the family who won't shut up about how bad president obama is. now look, you're going to want to feed people first. it always really helps. my favorite is the cherry cola glazed ribs. 48 ounces of cherry cola. get it flat. don't worry about that. two cups of cherry jam. two thirds cup of mustard with horse radish. it cooks extremely well. three tablespoons of apple sider vinegar. one table spoon of hot pepper

saw, and of course, it's going to work for about seven or eight pounds of pork spareribs. don't forget them, and you'll find the full recipe on ed.msnbc.com. the real tricky part in all of the family gathers especially this time of year when people are feeling good, boisterous because it's summertime, they have a few days off, this is different. now with progressives, you can me, we like to find ourselves, end up quite often finding someone in the family, a brother-in-law, uncle, cousin, who doesn't have their head screwed on right. it's health care and socialism and here we go again. although that conversation won't ruin the ribs, i guarantee you that. i want you to have the top five benefits of the affordable care act. there's a bunch of them, but we narrowed them down to easy conversation that might shut up uncle fred.

number one, coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions. children right now and everyone 2014. that's an easy one to remember. number two, insurance skaemps, they cannot drop coverage when you get sick. so uncle fred, if you get sick, your insurance company can't drop you thanks to president obama. number three, there's a lifetime cap on the coverage. no, there's not. not anymore. there's no lifetime cap on the coverage. uncle fred, if you get really, really sick, we're not going to cut you off at a million bucks. number four, children, oh, yes, they can stay on their parents' plan until they're 26 years old and then go to somebody who is in the family in that demographic and ask them, uncle fred, if that's a good deal or not. and number five, you actually get a rebate. conservatives love rebates. a rebate if your insurance company doesn't spend at least 80% of its premiums on actual

care. you'll see me, i have been swinging this a lot. do not use this as a weapon. it's not necessary, as progressives, we don't do those kinds of things. but it might get them thinking a little bit if we do. okay, let's go to karen finney, former dnc communications director. do most people understand what's happening here when it comes to the health care? are we going to run into conversations over the barbecue where people don't know, karen? >> oh, absolutely. when i worked in the clinton administration, i got it all the time when hillary was working on health care. usually it's the, here i want you to go tell the president. that's more like i think what people will get tomorrow. here's what you should go tell president obama. >> does it help to present conservatives with facts or just let them be in denial? >> oh, ed, they sure seem to be more comfortable in denial.

those pesky facts just seem to get in the way. i will say that at a barbecue, though, as you're perhaps watching a portly uncle eat some of your fabulous ribs, you can remind them that the diabetes, which is now a pre-existing conditions thanks to president obama, no worries, it's covered. >> and always medicare and medicaid benefits in this law and dozens of other reforms. how much should president obama be trying to talk about all of the benefits when he's on the road? >> i thi he should talk about it a lot. it's important that we talk about the things in very concrete terms and in real-life terms. if kids have insurance and they otherwise wouldn't, if you have a pre-existing conditions, why not talk about it. as democrats, you pointed this out, we have been trying to do this country for how many years? democrats got it done. let's be proud of that. let's celebrate that on july 4th. >> let's do that. i'm giving away a secret. when radio and cable is all over

in my lifetime, i hope it's not for a long time, i think i would like to go to chef school just to see what it's all about. karen, you have a great fourth. thanks so much. >> you, too, ed. >> that's "the ed show." ezra klein filling in for rachel maddow tonight. >> you're looking great over there. >> thank you. it's the cherry cola ribs. i want you to try them. >> i would love to try them. i'm looking for the invite, sir. have a great weekend. >> you, too. >> thank you to you at home for sticking around for the next hour. rachel has the night off, but we have a great show, including i am excited for this, an epic chart smackdown. you diagram aficionados should get ready to rumble. before that, i have to begin with a confession. you know mitch mcconnell, kind of a jowly guy. he's my favorite politician by far, and not just because of his good looks or his southern charm. it's because mitch mcconnell is the most honest man in washington.

you ask almost anyone else in a position of power on capitol hill why they're doing, what they're doing, and you get spin, spin, and more spin. they're reaching across the aisle to make the country better, that freedom is the most important freedom, then you think about the children and the freedom, and et cetera, et cetera. meanwhile, they got done ten minutes before that meeting with six mega donors and the way they're voting on the amendment because they're settling a score they have been nursing since the 2005 budget fight. mitch mcconnell is not really like that. he tells you what's going on. when he speaks i have learned to listen. in fact, of every politician and i'm not joking about this, he's the one i listen to the most closely because his mixer of power and honesty maim hick the best guy to what is going to happen next in the capitol. in october 2010, major garrett sat down with mcconnell to talk about what republicans would do if they took back congress in the fall. he didn't tell him he wanted compromise or a new tone or a